# Unusual food allergies **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 18, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-food-allergies/229859 "2004-02-18T20:09:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-food-allergies/229859/41 "2004-02-21T07:33:02Z")
I had a friend who was allergic to the carbonation in sodas. ---
**Author:** ![labmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f19dbf/32.png) [@labmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labmonkey)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-food-allergies/229859/42 "2004-02-21T08:08:09Z")
> [@percypercy](#): > > I had a friend who was allergic to the carbonation in sodas. Whooooooosh? ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-food-allergies/229859/43 "2004-02-21T12:01:03Z")
I’m mildly allergic (which means my tongue and throat and lips itch like crazy if I eat this stuff raw) to: Blueberries Plums Pears ---
**Author:** ![UnwrittenNocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@UnwrittenNocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwrittenNocturne)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-food-allergies/229859/44 "2004-02-21T12:17:04Z")
I am very very allergic to bananas, Slightly less so to grapes. ---
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-food-allergies/229859/45 "2004-02-21T12:29:59Z")
If memory serves me correctly, chocolate Nilla wafers give me hives. Not the normal “vanilla” ones, only the chocolate. I’m not allergic to chocolate itself, which makes me wonder just _what_ was in those chocolate Nilla wafers? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-food-allergies/229859/46 "2004-02-21T13:58:50Z")
> [@labmonkey](#): > > Thank you, **Broomstick**. I perfrom many,many of these freakin things a day(while in the appropriate section of the lab). We have literally thousands of allergens to test against a patient’s serum for specific IgE. Serum antibody can be quantified as well and you get a class(1-6) rating, depending on the specificity and avidity of the antibody for the allergen. Most patient serum I assay for food allergies have either no appreciable antibody, or are a high class to only two clusters of foods. Shellfish and nuts.Thats it. Most people are class zero(no IgE) when tested against all other food types. You wouldn’t believe the number of negatives we churn out in a day. And when I say everything, Imean we have everything. Like some other posters already said what people commonly believe are allergies are in most cases intolerances. I’m trying to think of the strangest one I’ve seen…gotta be human semen 🙂 Now airborne alergens, thats another matter. When I was 14 I got just such a work up - possibly less extensive than what you currently run, since it was over 25 years ago, but even then the battery of substances screened was quite impressive. I _did_ have significant IgE to multiple foods, though not shellfish or tree nuts. At the time I did not react to legumes. I have since. I did not bother to get an IgE test for the lentils because the symptoms were so classic I felt it was pointless - hives, itch, falling blood pressure, running nose, and wheezing are pretty conclusive. Now from the point of view of the actual sufferer there _isn’t_ much difference between “allergy” and “intolerance” - in either case, you shouldn’t eat the food that gives you a problem. But there are differences that should be noted. A true allergy, for instance, can be triggered by minute amounts of the problem substance whereas for someone intolerant some contamination might be tolerated. For instance, someone allergic to tomatoes should NEVER eat anything that has come in contact with tomatoes. Someone “merely” intolerant, though, might be able to safely eat a burger with the tomato picked off and just small traces of juice left on the rest with no ill effect. For someone truly allergic, that could be deadly. I do get ticked off at the cranks and the quacks who spread rampant misunderstandings about these conditions, impose bizarre diets and treatments, and generally make the whole area of medicine look shady. It certainly doesn’t help those of us with real problems. No, conventional medicine doesn’t have a cure or a perfect treatment - _neither do the quacks_. ---
**Author:** ![labmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f19dbf/32.png) [@labmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labmonkey)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-food-allergies/229859/47 "2004-02-21T14:49:27Z")
Oh I wasn’t saying, no one here is _really_ allergic, its just more likely you are intolerant. I am intolerant to tomatoes. I thought it was an allergy my entire life untill I was tested. Class 0. It dosen’t matter. Eat tomatoes and I’m in for an unpleasent gastrointestinal experience of which I’ll spare you the details. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-food-allergies/229859/48 "2004-02-21T17:35:57Z")
I’ve got a weird one. Popcorn leaves me itchy all over. Not regular corn. Just popcorn. I can eat cheese and ice cream and I’m usually fine, but one glass of regular milk will give me stomach problems for days. Strawberries. I get hives all over and have no idea how or why. And I don’t know it’s a real allergy or intolerance. I don’t need an official medical seal of approval to know I’ll be bloody miserable for days if I eat them. ---
**Author:** ![sweetfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@sweetfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweetfreak)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-food-allergies/229859/49 "2004-02-21T17:40:37Z")
I can eat cheese and ice cream on occasion. I can milk chocolate about once or twice a week. But I can’t have regular milk. I can only drink lactaid, non-fat milk. I developed lactose intolerance around the age of 28. The good thing about intolerance as opposed to an actual allergy is you can have some of the food that causes problems. ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-food-allergies/229859/50 "2004-02-21T18:14:42Z")
> [@Mogwei22](#): > > -yellow #5 – tastes like burning Yep, except the inside of my mouth swells, itches, hurts and makes me regret eating certain cheeses. Some pills do this too. Grape juice makes my mom’s eyes swell up until she looks like she’s gone a couple of rounds with Tyson. You can see them swell up in a couple of minutes - freaky. ---
**Author:** ![labmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f19dbf/32.png) [@labmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labmonkey)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-food-allergies/229859/51 "2004-02-21T20:21:29Z")
> [@GMRyujin](#): > > And I don’t know it’s a real allergy or intolerance. I don’t need an official medical seal of approval to know I’ll be bloody miserable for days if I eat them. Was this in my direction? Why are peple so attatched to and defensive of their allergies? I never said that just because your food sensitivity isn’t a genuine Type I IgE mediated hypersensitivity it isn’t valid. Sheesh. Its important to make the distinction because while food intolerances may be unpleasent, they won’t land you in the ER in anphylactic shock because someone forgot to tell you there’s peanut in your Dairy Queen blizzard. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-food-allergies/229859.md?page=2)